Men and women of Georgia.

Making yummies..
khinkalis are on the menu.

The women:

Intelligent and somewhat repressed women, at least by Western standards. All of them dark-haired, with beautiful, thick and straight hair. The majority is between 5’2” and 5’6”.Most of them educated in some professional field, many of them at home not using those skills.

I know ladies with law degrees, teaching certificates, and MBAs. Not one can find a job.
They believe in “sticking together” as women, and will defend another woman with all their might. They believe their happiness depends on the happiness of their children.
All of them cook all day, unless they hold a job. Able to serve up to 7 meals per day. (Granted, sometimes, it is just reheated.) They consider you their charge as guests, you are in the best hands with a Georgian woman! They will feed you until you explode! Unless a man lives alone, he has no business in the kitchen, and will apparently roam aimlessly until a woman serves him food...Mmmmm...that does not fit my Western standards too well..

2008-2013:

I have not been allowed, on the many trips over the five years in this family, to handle a dish, serve someone at the table, or clean anything...Even as a part of the family, I cannot do anything but sit and eat..So, I had a conversation last week with my sister-in-law, on the tradition of force feeding geese in France. After all, I am not a goose.. 

9/2013:

The result? After 5 years of being a royal guest, I heard last night that I was no longer a guest, and yes, I can now take the honey out of the cupboard to sweeten my tea MYSELF! Now, that took long enough, but it is just to say, the Georgian welcome is something else!  :). How long does it take for your guests to earn these rights? Funny how cultures differ, eh?

The first thing I say to my long-haul friends is: " Don't hesitate to help yourself in the fridge!" That is an American way of welcoming someone. In France, people actually hesitate to enter the kitchen, because it is usually a room with doors, and not an open plan. As a result, guests do not help themselves either, but they are at least welcomed to help me with the dishes..

Those differences in dining étiquette are certainly part of the fun of meeting people when traveling. You just don't get that out of a tourist bus!

September:

As the days get shorter and the winds pick up, it is time to clean the rugs. That is done manually by ladies, with a hose and a sort of broom handle with a T attached. When the ladies clean the floors inside, the attach a cloth around it.

So, they hose the carpets and push away the water with that implement. Very tough job, as far as I can tell. Then, the carpets hang for hours!

The lady below is a quilter/seamstress. She takes the wool that has been washed, cleaned and dried. She combs it, and sews either mattresses, or quilts in her garage. If you need such an item, you can order it from her, but I understand it can take weeks to get one, as this is time consuming task, of course. Maybe things are made of wool in the folk arts in Georgia, simply because there are A LOT of sheep here!

This was of great interest to me, since my father started his career making wool mattresses by hand. My siblings and I slept on wool all of our youth. It was wonderful.


This order was obviously a set, since the second one was hanging in the street in front of her shop, and surely..her apartment.

+++++++++++++++

The men:

Fighting men, proud men, crazy, crazy drivers. Not a blond one in the lot. Hard-working men. Incredibly stubborn, djiouti, for the most part. Macho men. (Yes, that does include my dearest husband.)The word is katsouri katsi, or virile man. Most men are short and stocky, about 5’10, with straight and thick hair. A small percentage is taller, up to 6’4” with curly hair and lighter in skin. I happen to have married into that group. Handsome man, my katsouri katsi..One king, Vakhtang Gorgasali, was actually 2 meters and 40 centimeters, king in the 5th Century. His horse was a huge beast! Had to be..
Francis the First of France was tall, close to 2 meters, but this guy could have crushed him..Darn!

 Vakhtang Gorgasali  in Metekhi

The Mercedes, a most important part of the Georgian man's world, has replaced the horses, and, lately, so have the SUVs. The BTC (Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan) pipeline travels across Georgia, making it a strategic place, as the pipeline from Azerbaidjan competes with the Russian pipeline to feed Europe. It also makes for cheaper gas in Georgia. Prices today, Sept 2013: one liter of diesel = 1.95 GEL. In 2008, a liter could be had for under one lari GEL..

So, there are cars everywhere.. From the old Russian decrepit cars of the 1980s, advancing at 30mph,to the bran new SUVs, black, of course, or the latest Mercedes, prononced mercedes-ee. 

The cars are the status of the Georgians, who will often eat less to have a better car. Symbol of status in the outside world, for men who have nothing else, job, or future in the market place..They are always spotless, but they can also be in stages of repainting, bumper fixing, or dent repairing. Garages will fix, for a very modest price, anything that ails your ride. However, it will be done in stages, and you can pick up your car half-painted and come back for the second coat a couple of days later. They do a very nice job, for 10% of the price in the USA or Europe...if they have the part you need, of course..

The Georgian man is not to be separated from his ride. His car is part of him. What you see in the old neighborhoods are men, washing, shining, cleaning their cars. For some of them, it is all they do all day, aside from speaking to their buddies or..

...playing nardi. Quite close to the game of backgammon, it seems like. The outside of the nardi boards are usually very beautiful, with wood inlay, or "marqueterie". They may have their own stand, or legs to put them at sitting heigth, but not always. The game can be played only by 2 people, and men play it, mainly. I have yet to see a woman play it. You throw dices and advance your game pieces while counting. Needless to say, you cannot play nardi with a Georgian unless you master your numbers.. That counts me out, pun intended.

Nardi is a very old game that is of Persian origin, and was played by Babylonian Jews. It is called "narr" , or "nard".
It is played in front the stores, waiting for clients. It is played in families, who also play chess. It is played when people are idle, and also I have so far failed to understand the rules, it seems to be a strategic game, such as backgammon. Playing cards, as done in the Western world, is not a usual pastime.

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The gardens of Georgia

Home Gardens

Kato's outside garden in the spring

An old lady built herself
a little piece of paradise
in the city

When you first arrive in Georgia, try not to arrive in winter. Nothing is in bloom, the only color in town and in the country is …grey! As things start blooming, you start seeing things that you didn’t think existed. You see gardens! You see grape arbors being trimmed all over the buildings, you see cherry trees, apple trees, almond trees, and other all wonderful happenings spring up everywhere! It turns out that even in the darkest of situations, people are still wanting to till the soil, and see things grow. A simple apple blossom made my day. A park that was full of holes and armed steel cement pieces even became a real park in a matter of days! The city is rejuvenating itself with plants! How wonderful!

In the era of communism, everybody worked. The gardens existed already, of course. After the separation from the communist Russia, people took it upon themselves to build all kinds of structures in the city, mainly on their buildings, such as enclosed balconies and other very unsightly things. They also managed to claim small pieces of land on the parkings and lands, simply encircled them with all kinds of materials, corrugated steel and all, and called them “gardens”! If the result is not always happy, it however offers an oasis in the cement world. It is a little like the people of the country came to town, and started planting. You see little old women all in black tending the gardens with love.

Daffodils bloom and violets are everywhere. Most gardens are covered with a steel frame, to be able to grow grapes, and provide a little summer shelter in a hot summer. The private garages with flat roofs grow grapes and make them a super terrace. 

Start with grapes
and then the rest will
follow naturally..

Makhwali's garden in Surami is like that. A web of arbors with gardens all around.
The grapes will of course be the source of wine, and allow for cool afternoons in the shade.

Pit toilet in the back
and water faucet in the front.

In the countryside, gardens can be planted in late March, and you can already see plots of cilantro and parsley come up. Next to them, the ever present walnut trees, the apple trees, the sour and sweet cherries, the fig and the pomegranate trees. The Georgians depend on their trees to bring them “muraba”, or fruit preserves, or canned fruit, for their sweetness in the gloom of winter. They will put the sour cherries in their cup of tea in January. They will munch on a preserved fig.

Parsley and cilantro are grown extensively, since parsley is used in most dishes and also served fresh on a plate. Cilantro is also a major staple. As it is a favorite of the rabbits, so the plots are covered with wire cages.



Up on the hills around Tbilisi, where Katia's garden is, it is cooler in the summer, and of course, less protected in the winters. A particular hill has provided the town with fresh products for generations. The inhabitants grow flowers also, and come down to sell them at the many markets around town. It makes sense that they would have greenhouses, of course.
Katia and her husband grew tomatoes that year in their huge greenhouse. The invasive grape broke through the glass and provided support, and shade...for the tomatoes below. Here are the results: tomatoes 3 meters high and great grapes. 
But any reason is good to plant yet another grapevine. Katia's husband, Tamazi, told me this was a Cabernet grape. Going down to the garden becomes a pleasure, wouldn't you say? 
You can of course, find other things than veggies and fruit, and berries in the garden. This little guy will certainly be invited to the Christmas dinner this year. 

Our garden is still in its infancy. Mainly, it is waiting for a designing touch. It will look quite different next year. For now, it is planted and seeded with edible stuff, such as tomatoes, cucumber, red basil, a Georgian favorite, potatoes, carrots and other goodies.

Being able to produce veggies here will feed the family members in the city. They depend on it, and work to that end. 
Visit our page on the garden for more info.

The food in Georgia!

THE WONDERFUL FOOD OF SAKARTVELO, an ongoing love story..

Meet “puri”, or bread in Georgian! This one is a special shape because it goes through a special process.

Here in Georgia, they cook bread in a round clay oven. It looks somewhat like a washing machine tumbler, and has hot ambers and a small fire in the bottom. The sides of the oven are hot, very hot...so the baker takes a ball of dough, and, in order to stick it to the side of the oven, has to stretch it a bit, hence the shape of the bread. When the bread is done, it falls from the side of the oven into the middle. It is then rescued and sold..It tastes, amazingly enough for us French in persuasion, like a crisp baguette! It has holes, and is crunchy on the outside and tender in the inside. Very yummy!


Other breads are cooked in regular ovens, and they don’t equal the taste of this cool one. They have loaf shapes, donut shapes and all kinds of other shapes.
Now, for a little treat, imagine this bread in a smaller size, the size of a hefty trout, let say. Now, make a slit in the middle, insert crumbled cheese, such as feta. Put it back in the oven, melt the whole mess, take it out, and then crack an egg on the top! Now, all you need is a fork! That is called “khatchapuri imayruli” and it is served on the western side of Georgia. That will equal and then surpass pancakes, I assure you! You will not want to eat for hours..but you will have to! :)
And now, for Khatchapuri, the answer to quesadilla in Georgia..devoured hot and melting..or cold and still hyper yummy! If it is filled with refried beans, like the dish on the left, it is called lobiani, because lobios are beans...just as yummy! In fact, this is not unlike Mexican cooking!



Since food is being served at all times of the day, the khatchapuri is eaten when it comes out of the fry pan, or oven. Mostly, with a cup of chai or tea. It is cut with scissors and served in pie-shaped portions. Jame! is the expression for "Eat, eat!", a national obsession, make the guests eat...

Khinkali, the answer to raviolis in Georgia. Here, they are prepared at home, or can be bought ready-made, but the taste suffers. The way to make this at home is to mix flour and water, no yeast, into a sort of bread dough. The dough is then kneaded with the fists and allowed to rest a while. Then, the dough is rolled very thin, and cut into rounds. Then the khinkalis are filled with a mixture of veal, beef, onions, cilantro, salt, garlic and water. The mixture is quite runny, for a very good reason. The water will eventually separate from the meat but stay in the little pouch made. That is the secret of the khinkalis: They have to
have a large amount of “juice” in them when you bite into them.

The little “bags” are sealed at the top and dropped into hot water, allowed to cook boiled for 10 to 12 minutes, and then devoured after a hefty pepper shaking. To be enjoyed with a very large beer..

The quince, or “comchi” here, is used in a variety of ways. It is boiled with a little sugar and the water that it is boiled in is served as “comchi compote” in a cup, to be had like a cup of tea, hot. Very interesting!

The pieces of quince are also eaten in a mashed form, a sort of heavy jam, used on bread. They can also be eaten in their hot syrup, or mixed with cooked white rice. Comchis are supposed to be good for your stomach and for someone with a persistent cough.

One cannot think of Georgian cooking without thinking of walnuts or "nigosi". They appear in almost every dish! Aside from satsivi which we will be covered later, they are used to season sweet and savory dishes.
One of these dishes consists of slices of eggplant, or badrigiani that have been partially peeled and then broiled to get a smoky flavor. The walnuts are then ground, spices are added, and the slices of eggplants are then slightly filled with the nuts, and folded in 3. Easy, yet delicious..By the second day, the juices of the eggplant and the walnuts mix and marry and the result is awesome!
Another use for walnuts is for a sweet dish called dzandili made of round wheat berries, cooked and cooled, mixed with honey, white raisins, and ...walnuts! Served cold in a glass.


An amazing product is made out of ...walnuts..and grapes, the second main ingredient in Georgia. It is called choorchrela. Walnuts halves are threaded on a light string, a few feet long. Then, grape juice and flour are boiled to make a heavy paste, called pelamushi, and the strings of walnuts are dipped repeatedly in the mixture to become completely covered and sealed in a tough covering. Strangely enough, it does not taste sweet! The taste of the walnuts is there, and the grape taste equally present. A most interesting use of walnuts! Can be kept for months! But better eaten in the fall, after the harvest.
Walnuts agrement fish sauces, chicken sauces, turkey dishes, vegetable dishes, desserts. You will find them hidden in layer cakes, one here and there..very sparingly..















Yogurt soup! Or mazoni soupi! Now, that is odd! First, onions are fried in butter, water and rice are added, then, a little dusting of flour, then, a hefty dose of yogurt, plain, of course, and at the end, beaten eggs. Imagine Chinese egg soup and put in some yogurt. Quite tasty, but surprising. The slight bitterness of the yogurt and the blandness of the eggs mix elegantly. And where do you get your yogurt, brought home in simple glass jars and covered with a heavy cream, you say? Well, the man from the hills will sell it to you! He comes on foot leading his horse!Incredible!
The use of fruit in Georgia is equally surprising. From the pitcher of blackberry homemade juice, complete with the berries at the bottom of the pitcher and served later as a dessert, to the alubali or sour cherries dropped into your cup of tea, the uses differ so much from the Western culture!
The markets here abound with citrus fruits, principally lemons and oranges. Georgia is also well known for its citrus, as this is a country where subtropical plants grow. The lemons are used for tea, another production of Georgia, in slices, and the oranges are cut in slices, together with kiwis and bananas for fruit platters.



So, how about pakhlava? I know what you are thinking...It's Bakhlava, right? Well, no...Took me 3 years to hear that it started with a "p" sound, and it is very different from what you would think of in Greece or in Turkey, for example.It is made with mock puff pasty dough, handmade, evidently, and then, you whip egg whites and sugar until it becomes very white and thick, like a stiff meringue prior to cooking, and you add ground nuts. Walnuts are good, but almonds are nicer. Then, you make a couple of layers of that, then top with melted butter. Half-way through cooking, add honey with a brush and let it cook a little longer. You can't imagine the goodness of that. Not syrupy like bakhlava, but sticky and yummy.




Here, shown with "f or peikhoa" ..I still don't know what fruit that is, but all I know is...It's very good! any ideas of what that would be? Citrusy, and almost gelatinous, and you can eat the skin. Almost tastes like a tart kiwi or a tart passion fruit? Yummy..and it cuts the sugar high of the pakhlava..

Tried to make this delicious pakhlava at home in France last week, and, yes, as expected, it was a dismal failure...Argh! Eka is just a specialist, and I will not try to outdo her. Pretty obvious it's better in Georgia..
And now for a summer treat....MSVADI!!!  One cannot go to Georgia and not have a bbq! It would be totally unacceptable!
So, msvadi is just that, a bbq of meat. Done on champuri, or skewers, they can be pieces of meat, or kababi, a blend of ground meat that is very carefully attached to the skewer, taking particular care to take the air out of the meat. Then, it is rolled in flat bread, called lavashi, and eaten with ajika, or other hot sauce..Yum!

Happy eating, everyone!